Don’t be fooled by fake law firms

A quick internet search for ‘benefit fraud solicitors’ will give you a huge number of organisations to choose from, but beware: some are not what they seem.  There is an increasing number of businesses out there offering to help people with their benefit issues, but many of them are not actually solicitors and are therefore entirely unregulated.

The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority  (SRA) is responsible for maintaining the high standards of advice and ethical conduct that are expected from the legal profession.  All solicitors must be registered with the the SRA in order to practice law in this country.

Legal practitioners who are not registered with the SRA (and are therefore not solicitors) may style themselves as ‘legal consultants’ or ‘advisors’ and provide the same kind of legal services as solicitors.  But because they are not regulated by the SRA, there is no way of knowing whether they are qualified to give legal advice or whether they can be trusted with your money.  They are also unable to undertake Legal Aid work so will charge you for services that real solicitors may be able to provide for free.

To check whether a legal advisor is registered with the SRA, you can search for them on the Law Society’s website.  Don’t risk it; use a regulated solicitor.